Personalized Location Information for Mobile Devices

ABSTRACT

Providing location information on a mobile device includes receiving signals from external devices. Each signal includes information that specifies a geographic location for the external device that has provided the signal. A geographic location for the mobile device is calculated by using the information contained in each of the received signals. A representation of the geographic location of the mobile device is generated. The representation of the geographic location is included within an electronic message that provides information describing a user of the mobile device to other users of an electronic communications system. The electronic message is transmitted to another device to provide an indication of the geographic location for the user to one of the other users of the electronic communications system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/986,121, filed on Jan. 6, 2011, which is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/581,669, filed on Oct. 19, 2009, and now issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 7,890,123, which is a divisional of U.S. Pat. No.11/238,110, filed on Sep. 29, 2005, and now issued as U.S. Pat. No.7,606,580, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/679,652, filed on May 11, 2005 and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/710,616 filed on Aug. 24, 2005. Each of theaforementioned applications and patents are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the personalization of location informationfor mobile devices.

BACKGROUND

In instant-messaging applications, users may communicate with each otherby exchanging instant messages. An individual user may have a buddy listthat includes the names of other users, known as “buddies,” with whomthe user may communicate regularly. The user may send instant messagesto any of the buddies, as well as other users not included in the buddylist, that are logged on to their respective computing stations. Any oneof these buddies may store electronic content that can be shared withother users. For example, a buddy may store an “away” message that canbe provided as an auto-response to other users to indicate that thebuddy is presently away from his or her computing station or isotherwise unavailable to send and receive instant messages.

Away messages can serve several purposes. Many people use them to letothers, such as their buddies, know exactly where they are. Others useaway messages to provide creative expression, such as by publishing thelyrics of the song they just wrote or a funny quote they just heard in amovie. Recent studies have shown that individuals of certain age groups(such as college-aged adults) not only invest a fair amount of timecreating multiple away messages per day, but they also spend a greatdeal of time reading the away messages of their buddies.

A very common use of away messages is to post your current location oractivity so that buddies can easily keep track of where you are and beinformed enough to join in your activity if they are up to it. Usersoften trust this service as a place to keep their personal information,such as contact information, so their friends can get in touch with themat any time. They use it to share information such as links to pictures,web logs (blogs), funny articles, declarations of love to aboyfriend/girlfriend, a countdown until the day they graduate, and otherthings of value. It is a quick way to provide a glimpse into the user'slife and, in most cases, it also may provide a way to get moreinformation about the user if a buddy wants to spend the time to do so.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, providing location information on a mobile deviceincludes receiving signals from external devices. Each signal includesinformation that specifies a geographic location for the external devicethat has provided the signal. A geographic location for the mobiledevice is calculated by using the information contained in each of thereceived signals. A representation of the geographic location of themobile device is generated. The representation of the geographiclocation is included within an electronic message that providesinformation describing a user of the mobile device to other users of anelectronic communications system. The electronic message is transmittedto another device to provide an indication of the geographic locationfor the user to one of the other users of the electronic communicationssystem.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, generating a representation of the geographic location mayinclude generating a representation of a location that is within athreshold distance from the calculated geographic location. Generating arepresentation of the geographic location also may include identifying aname of the geographic location. Identifying a name of the geographiclocation may include accessing a data store that includes indications ofnames of geographic locations.

Generating a representation of the geographic location may includeprompting the user of the mobile device for the representation of thegeographic location. Generating a representation of the geographiclocation also may include generating a commercial or social descriptionof the geographic location.

Receiving signals from external devices may include receiving signalsfrom one or more GPS satellites. Each signal received from an externaldevice may include information that specifies a previous electronicmessage that provides information describing the user.

Including the representation of the geographic location within theelectronic message may include overwriting a representation of aprevious geographical location of the mobile device with the generatedrepresentation of the mobile device.

The generated representation of the geographic location may be storedsuch that the representation may be used without being generated againat a later time when the mobile device is at the geographic location.The user of the mobile device may be prompted to select the generatedrepresentation of the geographic location for inclusion in theelectronic message at a next time at which the mobile device is locatedat the geographic location.

The user of the mobile device may be prompted to confirm that therepresentation of the geographic location should be included in theelectronic message. Prompting the user may include prompting the userwhen the geographic location is more than a threshold distance away froma previous geographic location, or prompting the user when thegeographic location has not changed for more than a threshold amount oftime.

Calculating the geographic location may include calculating a latitude,a longitude, or an altitude of the geographic location. Calculating thegeographic location may include calculating the geographic location inresponse to a user request.

The electronic message may indicate the availability of the user to sendand receive electronic messages. The electronic message may includetext, audio data, video data, or graphical data.

The mobile device may be at least one from a group including a personalcomputer, a mobile phone, and a personal digital assistant.

Including the representation of the geographic location within anelectronic message may include identifying an electronic message basedon the representation of the geographic location, or generating anelectronic message based on the representation of the geographiclocation.

A determination may be made as to whether the geographic location is ageographic location for which the representation of the geographiclocation should be included in the electronic message. Including therepresentation of the geographic location in the electronic message mayinclude including the representation of the geographic location in theelectronic message when the geographic location is a geographic locationfor which the representation of the geographic location should beincluded in the electronic message.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description anddrawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a networking system that is used forcommunication of electronic messages.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for identifying a location of amobile computing device.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a process for updating electronic contentstored in association with a user with information describing a locationof the user.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an interface for specifying a location of amobile computing device.

FIG. 5-7 are illustrations of interfaces displaying electronic messagesthat describe users.

FIG. 8 is an interface for displaying an electronic message describing auser as a response to an electronic message to the user.

FIG. 9 is an interface for displaying electronic messages describingmultiple users.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computing device that may be includedwithin the client and server systems shown in FIG. 1, according to oneimplementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Electronic content stored in association with a user is updatedautomatically with an indication of a location of the user. A mobiledevice used by the user identifies a location of the mobile device,which is assumed to be the location of the user. The user may be madeable to name or otherwise identify the location identified by the mobiledevice. The mobile device stores an indication of the location withinthe user's electronic content such that the indication of the locationis provided to other users that request and receive the electroniccontent. As the location of the user and the mobile device changes, newlocations are identified and stored within the electronic content suchthat accurate indications of the location of the user are provided. Eachtime the location of the mobile device changes, or periodically, theuser may be notified and asked to confirm that the location is correctand should be included in the electronic content.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a networking system 100 that is used fortransmission of instant messages, according to one implementation. Inthis implementation, the system 100 includes an instant message (IM)server 102, a network 106, and client devices 108 a and 108 b. The IMserver 102 is coupled to both the client device 108 a and the clientdevice 108 b through the network 106. The network 106 is a wide-areanetwork (WAN) in some implementations, and a local-area network (LAN) inothers. The client devices 108 a and 108 b may each include a computingdevice, such as the computing device shown in FIG. 11. In certainimplementations, the client devices 108 a and 108 b may be mobiledevices, such as portable computers, cellular telephones, or personaldigital assistants (PDAs).

During operation, the client device 108 a may initiate aninstant-messaging session with the client device 108 b and send one ormore IMs to the client device 108 b during the instant-messagingsession. To do so, the client device 108 a invokes an IM application 110a. In one implementation, a first user manually invokes the IMapplication 110 a. In another implementation, the client device 108 aautomatically invokes the IM application 110 a at start-up. The clientdevice 108 a also may include various other applications that operate atrun-time, such as word-processing applications, web-browserapplications, or mail applications. When a first user on the clientdevice 108 a wishes to begin an instant-messaging session with a seconduser on the client device 108 b, the first user initiates a request.This request includes an address associated with the client device 108b. The IM application 110 a on the client device 108 a sends thisrequest to an IM manager application 104 on the IM server 102 using thenetwork 106.

Upon receipt of this request from the client device 108 a, the IMmanager application 104 uses the address contained within the request tolocate the client device 108 b. The IM manager application 104 thenroutes the request to an IM application 110 b on the client device 108 busing the network 106. The IM application 110 b then processes thisrequest and initiates a new instant-messaging session with the IMapplication 110 a on the client device 108 a. The second user on theclient device 108 b is then notified by the IM application 110 b of thenew session, and the first and second users of the client devices 108 aand 108 b are capable of exchanging IMs during the course of theinstant-messaging session. The client device 108 b also may containother applications, such as word-processing applications, web-browserapplications, or mail applications.

In one implementation, the client device 108 a is capable of sendingmessages to and receiving messages from the client device 108 b throughthe network 106 without the use of the IM server 102. In thisimplementation, the IM applications 110 a and 110 b manage all of the IMfunctionality on the client devices 108 a and 108 b, respectively. Eachof the IM applications 110 a and 110 b is capable of authenticating andlocating other client devices to enable the exchange of messages to andfrom the client devices 108 a and 108 b, respectively.

The client devices 108 a and 108 b include away message repositories 112a and 112 b. The away message repository 112 a includes one or more awaymessages that have been specified by a user of the client device 108 a.Each of the away messages may include information describing the user.For example, an away message may include an indication of a currentlocation or activity of the user. In addition, the away message mayinclude an indication of the availability of the user to send andreceive instant messages. Furthermore, the away message may beidentifiable by a title that may be considered to be part of the awaymessage. In one implementation, the away message may include a profileof the user. The away messages included in the away message repositories112 a and 112 b may include audio data, video data, graphical data,emoticons, and/or text.

The away message repositories 112 a and 112 b may include multiple typesof away messages. For example, the repositories 112 a and 112 b mayinclude online away messages for a user that are provided when the useris available to send and receive electronic messages. Similarly, therepositories 112 a and 112 b may include offline away messages for auser, which are away messages that are provided when the user is notavailable to send and receive electronic messages. The repositories alsomay include profiles that include information describing the user.Location away messages, which specify only user location, and mobileaway messages, which are used when the client devices 112 a and 112 bare mobile devices, also may be stored within the repositories 112 a and112 b.

The user of the client device 108 a may make one of the away messagesstored in the away message repository 112 a accessible to the clientdevice 108 b such that the away message may be transferred to the clientdevice 108 b for processing or for presentation to a user of the clientdevice 108 b. The user of the client device 108 a may select one of theaway messages from the away message repository 112 a based on theinformation included in the away message. If none of the stored awaymessages include desirable information, then the user may specify a newaway message including the desirable information for storage in therepository 112 a. In some implementations, the user of the client device108 a may make multiple away messages included in the repository 112 aaccessible for transfer to the client device 108 b and other clientdevices. The away message that is provided to the other client devicemay depend on an identity of a user of the other client device. Forexample, a first away message may be provided when the user of the otherclient device is a mother of the user of the client device 108 a, and asecond away message may be provided when the user of the other clientdevice is a friend of the user of the client device 108 a.

In one implementation, the away message repositories 112 a and 112 b mayinclude old away messages that are no longer applicable to thecorresponding users. For example, when the user of the client system 108a modifies an original away message, the away message repository 112 amay maintain a copy of the original away message as well as the modifiedaway message. The old away messages may be made accessible, for example,in the form of a web log (e.g., blog) such that more than just a mostrecent away message is accessible. Consequently, other users or systemsthat access the web log may be provided with indications of previousevents, activities, locations, or characteristics of the user, as wellas indications of more recent events, activities, locations, orcharacteristics of the user.

In some implementations, the IM application 110 a or the IM application110 b may be configured to respond automatically to instant messagesreceived at the client devices 108 a and 108 b. In addition, the IMapplications 110 a and 110 b may be configured to perform some functionidentified by the received instant messages. For example, the clientdevice 108 a may represent a mobile device used by a user, and theclient device 108 b may be a desktop computer used by the user. In sucha case, the mobile device may not include the away message repository112 a, due to limited storage and processing capabilities. Instead, awaymessages for the user may be provided from the away message repository112 b included in the desktop computer. The user may send an instantmessage from the mobile device to the desktop computer identifying anaway message included in the away message repository 112 b to be madeavailable to other users. The automatic response to the received instantmessage may indicate that the identified away message has been madeavailable to the other users.

In some implementations, the users of the client devices 108 a and 108 bmay specify user information feeds that periodically provide to otherusers information relating to the users. Alternatively or additionally,the IM server 102 may be configured to aggregate the informationrelating to the users into the user information feeds on behalf of theusers. The user information feed for a user may include any informationrelated to the user, such as entries included in an online journal ofthe user, an away message of the user, a profile of the user, mediafiles of interest to the user, a playlist specifying an order in whichthe user listens to or watches the media files, recent communicationssent and received by the user, and RSS feeds of interest to the user.The client devices 108 a and 108 b or the IM server 102 may periodicallyprovide the user information feeds to other users who have subscribed tothe information feeds. Alternatively or additionally, the client devices108 a and 108 b or the IM server 102 may provide only portions of a userinformation feed that have been added or changed since a previousdistribution of the user information feed.

Referring to FIG. 2, a system 200 is used to identify a geographiclocation of a client system 108 a for use with an IM application 110 a.A GPS application 205 of the client system 108 a communicates withsatellite devices 210 a-210 c to identify a location of the clientsystem 108 a. The client system 108 a also may communicate with a mapserver 215 and a directory server 220 through a network 106. The clientsystem 108 a also includes an away message repository 112 a and a commonname repository 225. The network 106, the client system 108 a, the IMapplication 110 a, and the away message repository 112 a are similar tocorresponding components from FIG. 1.

The GPS application 205 is configured to determine a location of theclient system 108 a. The GPS application 205 may include a GPS receiverand a location determination module. The GPS receiver is configured tocommunicate with the satellite devices 210 a-210 c. Based on the signalsreceived from the satellite devices 210 a-210 c, the locationdetermination module calculates a distance to each of the satellitedevices 210 a-210 c. The location determination module then maydetermine the location of the client system 108 a based on thecalculated distances to the satellite devices 210 a-210 c. The GPSapplication 205 may determine the location of the client system 108 a aslatitude and longitude coordinates, which are also known as GPScoordinates.

The map server 215 provides addresses or other representations oflocations identified by the GPS application 205. For example, the GPSapplication 205 may provide the map server 215 with the latitude andlongitude coordinates identifying the location of the client system 108a. In response, the map server may identify an address, a name, oranother representation of the location of the client system 108 a. Insome implementations, the functionality provided by the map server 215may be included in the GPS application 205.

The directory server 220 also provides information about the location ofthe client system 108 a. More particularly given GPS coordinates or anaddress from the GPS application 205 or the map server 215, thedirectory server 220 may provide a name of the location. For example, ifthe client system 108 a is located at a business, the directory server220 may provide a name of the business in response to the address. Asanother example, if the client system 108 a is located at a residence,the directory server 220 may provide the name of a person that lives atthe residence. In some implementations, the directory server also may beconfigured to provide additional information describing the location,such as a phone number of the location. In some implementations, thefunctionality provided by the directory server 220 may be included inthe GPS application 205.

The common name repository 225 stores alternative representations of thelocations of the client system 108 a that were identified by the GPSapplication 110. For example, the common name repository 225 may storenames and other information describing the locations that were providedby the map server 215 or the directory server 220, or by a user of theclient system 108 a. The stored names and descriptive information forthe previous locations may be used when the client system 108 a issubsequently located at one of the previous locations without having toidentify the name or descriptive information again.

Referring to FIG. 3, a process 300 is used to identify and provide anindication of a location of a user based on a location of a mobiledevice used by the user. The process 300 may be executed by a mobiledevice, such as implementations of the client device 108 a of FIGS. 1and 2 that are mobile devices.

The mobile device first receives signals indicating positions of one ormore external devices (305). For example, the mobile device may receivesignals indicating the position of the satellite devices 215 a-215 c ofFIG. 2. More particularly, a GPS application of the mobile device, suchas the GPS application 205 of FIG. 2, may receive the signals.Alternatively or additionally, the mobile device may receive the signalsfrom other systems with which the mobile device communicates, such ascellular telephone towers. The signals also may indicate an address ofthe mobile device, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address of themobile device. The mobile device calculates a geographic location of themobile device based on the received signals (310). More particularly,the GPS application may calculate the geographic location of the mobiledevice based on the received signals. Calculating the geographiclocation may include calculating a latitude measurement, a longitudemeasurement, and/or an altitude measurement for the geographic location.The mobile device may use triangulation to calculate the position basedon the signals received from the satellite devices 215 a-215 c or thecellular telephone towers.

The mobile device may generate a representation of the geographiclocation of the mobile device (315). Alternatively, the mobile devicemay generate a representation of a location that is within a thresholddistance from the geographic location. For example, if the mobile deviceis located in a parking lot of a business, the mobile device maygenerate a representation of the business instead of the parking lot ifthe business is within the threshold distance from the parking lot. Therepresentation may be a name or another commercial or social descriptionof the geographic location. For example, the representation of abusiness named “Bill's Bar” on Lake Street may be “Bill's,” “the bar,”“Bill's pub,” “Bill's on Lake,” or another variation of the name andlocation of the business. The representation of the geographic locationalso may include an indication of the geographic location itself. Forexample, a representation of a geographic location may include “Bill'sBar at 13 Lake Street,” in which case “Bill's Bar” is the representationof the geographic location, which is “13 Lake Street.”

In one implementation, the mobile device may contact a map server, suchas the map server 215 of FIG. 2, or a directory server, such as thedirectory server 220 of FIG. 2, to identify the representation of thegeographic location. For example, the mobile device may provide anindication of the geographic location to the map server or the directoryserver, and the map server of the directory server may generate andprovide the representation of the geographic location to the mobiledevice in response.

In another implementation, the mobile device prompts a user of themobile device for a representation of the geographic location. Forexample, a user interface displayed on the mobile device may include anindication of the geographic location that was identified by the mobiledevice, the map server, or the directory server. The user may use theuser interface to specify the representation of the indicated geographiclocation. The mobile device may store a representation of the geographiclocation for later use when the mobile device returns the geographiclocation.

In another implementation, the mobile device may identify therepresentation automatically and may prompt the user for confirmation ofthe automatically identified representation. The mobile device mayprompt the user for confirmation, for example, if the mobile devicedetermines that the geographic location of the mobile device has changedsubstantially (e.g., by more than a threshold distance), or if thegeographic location has not changed for longer than a threshold amountof time.

The mobile device includes the representation in an electronic messagethat provides information describing the user of the mobile device(320). For example, the mobile device may include the representation ofthe geographic location in an away message of the user. The away messagemay be stored in an away message repository that is local to the mobiledevice, such as the away message repository 112 a of FIGS. 1 and 2.Alternatively, the away message may be stored at an IM server throughwhich the user communicates with other users. If the electronic messagealready includes a representation of a previous geographic location ofthe mobile device, the mobile device may overwrite the representation ofthe previous geographic location with the newly identified geographicrepresentation. If the representation of the geographic locationincludes an indication of the geographic location itself, therepresentation and the geographic location may be included in differentparts of the electronic message.

In some implementations, the user of the mobile device may maintainmultiple electronic messages, and each electronic message may be madeavailable to only a subset of other users. For example, the user maymaintain a first electronic message that is provided to family membersand a second electronic message that is provided to friends. In such acase, the representation of the geographic location may be included inonly a subset of the electronic messages. For example, if the user islocated at a bar, the representation of the geographic location may beincluded only in the second electronic message that is provided tofriends of the user. Alternatively or additionally, multiplerepresentations of the geographic location may be generated forinclusion in particular ones of the electronic messages. For example, afirst representation indicating that the user is “out with friends” maybe generated for inclusion in the first electronic message, and anotherrepresentation indicating that the user is “at the bar” may be generatedfor inclusion in the second electronic message.

The mobile device then receives a request for the electronic messagefrom a different user (325). For example, the mobile device receives therequest from a client system used by the different user, such as theclient system 108 b of FIG. 1. In response to the received request, themobile device provides the representation of the geographic location tothe different user as part of the electronic message (330). The mobiledevice may provide the electronic message from the local away messagerepository, or from the IM server. For example, the mobile device mayprovide the electronic message to the different user directly.Alternatively, the mobile device may request that the IM server providethe electronic message to the different user. As a result, the differentuser is made aware of the geographic location of the user of the mobiledevice.

In one implementation, a server side process, such as a process runningon the IM server 102 of FIG. 1, receives GPS coordinates or anotherindication of the location of the mobile device from the mobile device.The server side process identifies a common name (e.g. Starbucks on 9thand M, or RFK stadium, or “GMU computer lab”) based on the indicatedlocation received from the mobile device, for example, using the mapserver 215, the directory server 220, or the common name repository 225of FIG. 2, as described above. The server side process may make thecommon name available in away messages, participant lists, or the commonname repository 225 for access by other users. This common name locationinformation can also be used for purposes of grouping by location,searching by location, or other location-based activities.

The process 300 may be executed by the mobile device multiple times. Forexample, the mobile device may periodically determine the location ofthe mobile device (305, 310). If the location has changed substantiallyfrom a previously determined location, then the electronic message ofthe user of the mobile device may need to be updated. Consequently, themobile device may complete execution of the process 300 to update theelectronic message and to provide the electronic message to other usersafter the electronic message has been updated. Even if the location ofthe mobile device has changed, the user may be prompted before theelectronic message is updated, in case that the user does not desire toupdate the electronic message, for example, because the user anticipatesthat the location of the mobile device will change again soon.

Furthermore, the user may be enabled to indicate when the process 300should be executed. For example, the user may be enabled to manuallyrequest execution of the process 300. Alternatively or additionally, theuser may be enabled to specify a set of locations in which theelectronic message of the user should be updated with the location ofthe user. The mobile device may begin execution of the process 300periodically to determine its location. If the location of the mobiledevice matches one of the previously specified locations, then executionof the process 300 completes to update the electronic message describingthe user.

Some implementations of the process 300 may be executed by an IM server,such as the IM server 102 of FIG. 1. In such implementations, ratherthan identifying the geographic location of the mobile device, the IMserver simply receives the location from the mobile device. The IMserver may generate the representation of the geographic locationlocally (315), or the IM server may receive the representation from themobile device. The IM server then includes the representation in theelectronic message describing the user of the mobile device (320). TheIM server may receive a request for the electronic message (325) and mayprovide the representation as part of the electronic message (330). TheIM server may access and provide the electronic message from the awaymessage repository of the mobile device, or from a local copy of theelectronic message.

Other implementations of the process 300 may not include therepresentation of the geographic location in the electronic messagedescribing the user of mobile device (320). Instead, the representationof the geographic location may be used to identify an appropriateelectronic message from a set of previously specified electronicmessages. The appropriate electronic message may not explicitly indicatethe geographic location of the mobile device. However, the electronicmessage is only an appropriate description of the user when the mobiledevice is at the geographic location. For example, the representation ofthe geographic location may indicate that the mobile device is at aworkplace of the user. Consequently, an electronic message that includesthe text “earning my paycheck” may be identified as an appropriatedescription of the user, based on the geographic location.

Alternatively or additionally, the appropriate electronic message may begenerated automatically based on the representation of the geographiclocation. The automatically generated electronic message may includeaudio data, video data, graphical data, emoticons, or text. For example,if the representation of the geographic location indicates that the useris at his gym, an electronic message including a video of a personrunning, a picture of a barbell, and the text “feeling the burn” may begenerated. The automatically generated electronic message may be storedfor later use in an away message repository corresponding to the mobiledevice, such as one of the away message repositories 112 a or 112 b ofFIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, an interface 400 enables a user of a mobile deviceto generate a representation of an otherwise automatically identifiedgeographic location of the mobile device. The interface 400 may bepresented on the mobile device during execution of the process 300 ofFIG. 3. The interface includes a geographic location indicator 405, aselection list 410 and a text box 415 with which the representation maybe specified, and a button 420 for selecting the specified option.

The geographic location indicator 405 provides an indication of ageographic location of the mobile device. The indicated geographiclocation may be calculated by a GPS application of the mobile device, asdescribed above with respect to operations 305 and 310 of the process300 of FIG. 3. Alternatively or additionally, the mobile device mayaccess a map server or a directory server to identify the indicatedgeographic location, as described above with respect to operation 315 ofthe process 300 of FIG. 3. For example, in the illustratedimplementation, the geographic location indicator 405 includes anaddress that was identified by the map server in response to GPScoordinates provided by the mobile device.

The selection box 410 enables the user of the interface 400 to selectthe representation of the indicated geographic location from among a setof representations of previous geographic locations of the mobiledevice. The representations that are selectable from the selection box410 may have been saved after being generated when the mobile device waslocated at the previous geographic locations. In one implementation, ifa representation of the geographic location indicated by the geographiclocation indicator has been identified and saved previously, then thatrepresentation may be presented as a default value for the selection box410. The options included in the selection box 410 may represent text,audio data, video data, or graphical data.

If a representation corresponding to the indicated geographic locationis not included as a selectable option of the selection box 410, theuser may specify the representation manually using the text field 415.Alternatively or additionally, the text field 415 may be used toidentify a non-textual representation of the indicated geographiclocation. For example, the text field 415 may be used to specify alocation of an image file, an audio file, or a video file that is toserve as the representation of the indicated geographic location.

Selecting the button 420 associates the representation specified by theselection box 410 or the text field 415 with the geographic locationindicated by the geographic location indicator 405. In oneimplementation, if no text is specified in the text field 415, and nooption is selected from the selection box 410, then selecting the button420 sets the indicated geographic location as its own representation. Inanother implementation, the indicated geographic location may beincluded as part of the representation of the geographic location. Insome implementations, the specified representation may be stored inassociation with the indicated geographic location for use when themobile device returns to the indicated geographic location. In someimplementations, selecting the button 420 also may dismiss the interface400.

Referring to FIG. 5, an away message display interface 500 displays anaway message 505 describing a particular user. The user for which theaway message is displayed is identified in a text box 510. The awaymessage display interface 500 also may display separately a profile 515of the user, particularly when the profile is not included in the awaymessage 505. The combination of the away message 505 and the profile 515provides information describing the user to an individual for which theaway message display interface 500 is displayed.

The interface 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 may be displayed prior toexecution of the process 300 of FIG. 3. Consequently, the away message505 and the profile 515 do not include an indication of a geographiclocation of the user. Referring also to FIG. 6, the interface 500 alsomay be displayed after a first execution of the process 300. At the timeof the first execution of the process 300 by a mobile device of theuser, the user and the mobile device may be located at “Sam's Pub at 13Lake Street.” Such a representation of the location of the mobile devicemay be identified and included in the away message 505 as a result ofthe first execution of the process 300. When the away message 505 isrequested and displayed as illustrated in FIG. 6, the away message 505includes the representation of the location.

Referring also to FIG. 7, the interface 500 also may be displayed aftera subsequent execution of the process 300. At the time of the subsequentexecution of the process 300 by the mobile device of the user, the userand the mobile device may have moved from “Sam's Pub” to “Bill's Pizzaat 25 State Street.” Such a representation of the location of the mobiledevice may be identified and included in the away message 505 as aresult of the subsequent execution of the process 300. When the awaymessage 505 is requested and displayed as illustrated in FIG. 7, theaway message 505 includes the representation of the location.

Referring also to FIG. 8, an away message including informationdescribing a user's location may be displayed in an instant messaginginterface 800, which enables instant messages to be sent and received. Asender of instant messages may use the instant messaging interface 800to send an instant message to a recipient for which the process 300 wasexecuted previously.

The instant messaging interface 800 includes a message history box 805that lists the instant messages sent between the sender and therecipient. The message history box 805 also may be referred to as amessage transcript box 805. Each message is presented with an indicationof an identifier by which the sender or the recipient is identified asthe sender of the message. Each message listed in the message historybox 805 also includes the text of the instant message sent by the senderor the recipient. For example, the message history box 805 includes amessage 810 sent by a user with a screen name “MyUser” and a message 815sent by a user with a screen name “Buddy1.” In one implementation, eachmessage listed in the message history box 805 includes a time stamp ofwhen the message was sent. The users that sent the messages 810 and 815are the recipient and the sender, respectively. In some implementations,the message history box may include automatically sent messages thatwere not specified manually by the sender of the recipient. For example,the automatically sent messages may inform the recipient that the senderhas not used the instant messaging interface 800 for more than athreshold amount of time.

In typical implementations, the message history box 805 includes onlythose instant messages sent between the sender and the recipient afterthe interface 800 was displayed initially. In other implementations, theinstant messages reflected in the message history box 805 may be savedwhen the interface 800 is dismissed, for example, such that the messagehistory box 805 may be repopulated with those instant messages when theinterface 800 is displayed again at a later time.

The instant messaging interface 800 also includes a messagespecification box 820 in which the sender may specify a message to besent to the recipient. The sender may enter text to be sent to therecipient in the message specification box 820. The instant messageinterface 800 includes a set of format controls 825 that may be used toformat the text entered in the message specification box 820. Moreparticularly, the controls in the set of format controls 825 enable theuser to change the size, foreground color, background color, style, andeffects of the text entered in the message specification box 820. Theset of format controls 825 also includes controls for inserting objectsthat are not plain text, such as hyperlinks and emoticons, into themessage specification box 820.

After a message has been specified in the message specification box 820,the message may be sent by selecting a send button 825 included in asecond control set 830. After the send button 835 has been selected, thetext that has been entered in the message specification box 820 is sentto the recipient, and the message specification box 820 is cleared. Themessage is added to the message history box 805. The message also isdisplayed in a message history box 805 of an instance of the instantmessaging interface 800 being viewed by the recipient. Also included inthe second control set 830 are controls for warning instant messagesenders, blocking instant messages from particular senders, or addinganother sender to a participant list used by the sender.

The recipient with the identifier “Buddy1” may be unavailable to sendand receive instant messages at a time when the sender with theidentifier “MyUser” sent the message 810. As a result the recipient mayhave chosen a descriptive message to be sent automatically to otherusers, such as the sender, that send the recipient instant messages. Thedescriptive message may include a representation of the geographiclocation of the recipient that was identified and included in thedescriptive message through execution of the process 300 of FIG. 3. Themessage 815, which indicates that the recipient is located at “Sam's Pubat 13 Lake Street,” may represent such a descriptive message, which iswhy the message 815 is labeled as an “AutoResponse from Buddy1.” Themessage 815 may be processed or simply presented to the sender with theinstant messaging interface 800. The sender may continue to send instantmessages to the recipient, if so desired.

Referring to FIG. 9, an away message display interface 900 is similar tothe away message display interfaces 500 of FIGS. 5-7. However, insteadof displaying information describing a single user, the away messagedisplay interface 900 displays information describing multiple users. Inone implementation, the interface 900 is a web page that may bedisplayed in a web browser. In another implementation, the interface 900may be configured for display on a device with limited displaycapabilities, such as a mobile device.

Identifiers 905 a-905 d for the users are displayed on the left side ofthe interface 900. Away messages 910 a-910 d describing the users aredisplayed next to the identifiers 905 a-905 d. A profile of a user maybe displayed next to the identifier of the user in the interface 900,for example, when the profile is not included in the away message forthe user, of when the user has not otherwise indicated that the profileis no to be displayed. For example, the interface 900 includes a profile915 a of the user corresponding to the identifier 905 a and a profile915 b of the user corresponding to the identifier 905 d. In theillustrated implementation, the profiles 915 a and 915 b are displayednext to the identifiers 905 a and 905 d.

One or more of the away messages 910 a-910 d may include arepresentation of a geographic location of a corresponding user. Therepresentation may be included in the away message through execution ofthe process 300 of FIG. 3 on behalf of the corresponding user. Forexample, the away message 910 b for the user corresponding to theidentifier 905 b includes a representation of the location of the user.For example, in the illustrated implementation, the away message 910 bindicates that the user is at “Sam's Pub at 13 Lake Street.”

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computing device 1000 that may beincluded within the IM server 102 and/or the client devices 108 a and108 b. The computing device 1000 may represent a general-purposecomputer, a special-purpose computer, or a mobile computing device, suchas a portable computer, a mobile telephone, or a PDA. The computingdevice 1000 includes a processor 1005, a memory 1010, an input/outputcontroller 1015, a GPS receiver 1020, a network adapter 1025, and astorage device 1030. Each of the components 1005, 1010, 1015, 1020,1025, and 1030 are interconnected using a system bus 1035.

The processor 1005 is capable of processing instructions for executionwithin the computing device 1000. In one implementation, the processor1005 is a single-threaded processor. In another implementation, theprocessor 1005 is a multi-threaded processor. The processor 1005 iscapable of processing instructions stored in the memory 1010 or on thestorage device 1025 to display graphical information for a GUI on anexternal input/output device that is coupled to the input/outputcontroller 1015.

The memory 1010 stores information within the computing device 1000. Inone implementation, the memory 1010 is a computer-readable medium. Inone implementation, the memory 1010 is a volatile memory unit. Inanother implementation, the memory 1010 is a non-volatile memory unit.

The input/output controller 1015 manages input/output operations for thecomputing device 1000. In one implementation, the input/outputcontroller 1015 is coupled to an external input/output device, such as akeyboard, a pointing device, or a display unit that is capable ofdisplaying various GUIs, such as the GUIs shown in the previous figures,to a user.

The GPS receiver 1020 is similar to the GPS application 205 of FIG. 2.The GPS receiver 1020 is configured to receive signals from multiple GPSsatellites, such as the satellite devices 210 a-210 c of FIG. 2, and touse the received signals to calculate a location of the computing device1000, for example, as GPS coordinates.

The computing device 1000 uses the network adapter 1025 to communicatewith other network devices. If, for example, the client device 108 a isa mobile device that includes the computing device 1000, the computingdevice 1000 uses its network adapter 1025 to communicate with the hostserver 106 over a wireless connection.

The storage device 1030 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device 1000. In one implementation, the storage device 1030 isa computer-readable medium. In various different implementations, thestorage device 1030 may be a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, anoptical disk device, or a tape device.

In one implementation, a computer program product is tangibly embodiedin an information carrier. The computer program product containsinstructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such asthose described above. The information carrier is a computer- ormachine-readable medium, such as the memory 1010, the storage device1030, or a propagated signal.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of providinginformation about a location attributable to a user of an electroniccommunications system to other users of the electronic communicationssystem, the method comprising: accessing an indication of a locationattributable to a user of an electronic communications system; inresponse to accessing the indication of the location attributable to theuser of the electronic communications system, updating a message that isdescriptive of the user of the electronic communications system toinclude a descriptive representation of the location attributable to theuser of the electronic communications system; making available theupdated message, which is descriptive of the user of the electroniccommunications system and which has been updated to include thedescriptive representation of the location attributable to the user ofthe electronic communications system, to only a first limited subset ofusers of the electronic communications system; and making available analternative message, which is descriptive of the user but which has notbeen similarly updated to include the descriptive representation of thelocation attributable to the user of the electronic communicationssystem, to a second limited subset of users of the electroniccommunications system as an alternative to the message that isdescriptive of the user of the electronic communications system and thatincludes the descriptive representation of the location attributable tothe user of the electronic communications system.
 2. The method of claim1 wherein making available an alternative message to a second limitedsubset of users of the electronic communications system includes makingavailable an alternative message, which is descriptive of the user andwhich includes an alternative descriptive representation of the locationattributable to the user of the electronic communications system that isdifferent than the descriptive representation of the locationattributable to the user of the electronic communications system, to thesecond limited subset of users of the electronic communication system.3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: enabling configuration toeffect restriction of availability of the updated message to only afirst limited subset of users of the electronic communications systemthat the user of the electronic communications system has designated asbeing friends of the user of the electronic communications system; andenabling configuration to effect restriction of availability of thealternative message to a second limited subset of users of theelectronic communications system that the user of the electroniccommunications system has designated as being family members of the userof the electronic communications system.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein receiving the indication of the location attributable to theuser of the electronic communications system includes receiving theindication of the location attributable to the user of the electroniccommunications system from a mobile device that is associated with theuser of the electronic communications system.
 5. The method of claim 1wherein: the electronic communications system is an instant messagingsystem; and the method further comprises: enabling configuration toeffect restriction of availability of the updated message to only afirst limited subset of users of the instant messaging system; andenabling configuration to effect restriction of availability of thealternative message to a second limited subset of users of the instantmessaging system.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein making available theupdated message to only a first limited subset of users of theelectronic communications system includes limiting access to the updatedmessage to the first limited subset of users of the electroniccommunications system.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein making availablethe alternative message to a second limited subset of users of theelectronic communications system includes making the alternative messageavailable to a second limited subset of users of the electroniccommunications system that does not include any of the first limitedsubset of users of the electronic communications system.
 8. The methodof claim 1 wherein updating a message that is descriptive of the user ofthe electronic communications system to include a descriptiverepresentation of the location attributable to the user of theelectronic communications system includes updating a message that isconfigured to reveal a status of the user of the electroniccommunications system to include a descriptive representation of thelocation attributable to the user of the electronic communicationssystem.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein updating a message that isdescriptive of the user of the electronic communications system toinclude a descriptive representation of the location attributable to theuser of the electronic communications system includes updating a messagethat is configured to reveal availability of the user of the electroniccommunications system to include a descriptive representation of thelocation attributable to the user of the electronic communicationssystem.
 10. A computer-implemented method of providing information abouta status of a user of an instant messaging system to other users of theinstant messaging system, the method comprising: maintaining, on behalfof a user of an instant messaging system, a first status message, thefirst status message having been designated by the user as beingintended for a first limited subset of co-users of the instant messagingsystem and reflecting a status of the user that the user intends tocommunicate to constituent members of the first limited subset ofco-users; maintaining, on behalf of the user of the instant messagingsystem and concurrently with maintaining the first status message, asecond status message, the second status message being different fromthe first status message and having been designated by the user as beingintended for a second limited subset of co-users of the instantmessaging system and reflecting a status of the user that the userintends to communicate to constituent members of the second limitedsubset of co-users; processing an instruction to generate, on behalf ofthe user of the instant messaging system, automatic responses toincoming instant messages intended for the user of the instant messagingsystem; receiving an indication of a location attributable to the userof the instant messaging system; in response to receiving the indicationof the location attributable to the user of the instant messagingsystem, updating the first status message maintained on behalf of theuser to include a representation of the location attributable to theuser of the instant messaging system; and after having processed theinstruction to generate automatic responses to incoming instant messagesintended for the user of the instant messaging system and after havingupdated the first status message maintained on behalf of the user toinclude the representation of the location attributable to the user ofthe instant messaging system: receiving, from a first co-user of theinstant messaging system, a first instant message intended for the userof the instant messaging system, in response to receiving the firstinstant message intended for the user of the instant messaging system:identifying the first co-user of the instant messaging system as thesender of the first instant message intended for the user of the instantmessaging system, determining that the first co-user of the instantmessaging system is a member of the first limited subset of co-users, asa consequence of having processed the instruction to generate automaticresponses to incoming instant messages intended for the user of theinstant messaging system and as a consequence of having determined thatthe first co-user of the instant messaging system is a member of thefirst limited subset of co-users, generating a first automatic responseto the first instant message, the first automatically-generated responseincluding the updated first status message maintained on behalf of theuser of the instant messaging system, and transmitting the firstautomatically-generated response, including the updated first statusmessage, to the first co-user of the instant messaging system,receiving, from a second co-user of the instant messaging system, asecond instant message intended for the user of the instant messagingsystem, and in response to receiving the second instant message intendedfor the user of the instant messaging system: identifying the secondco-user of the instant messaging system as the sender of the secondinstant message intended for the user of the instant messaging system,determining that the second co-user of the instant messaging system is amember of the second limited subset of co-users, as a consequence ofhaving processed the instruction to generate automatic responses toincoming instant messages intended for the user of the instant messagingsystem and as a consequence of having determined that the second co-userof the instant messaging system is a member of the second limited subsetof co-users, generating a second automatic response to the secondinstant message, the second automatically-generated response includingthe second status message maintained on behalf of the user of theinstant messaging system, and transmitting the secondautomatically-generated response, including the second status message,to the second co-user of the instant messaging system.
 11. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising updating the second status messagemaintained on behalf of the user to include an alternativerepresentation of the location attributable to the user of the instantmessaging system in response to receiving the indication of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system, thealternative representation of the location attributable to the user ofthe instant messaging system included in the updated second statusmessage being different from the representation of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system included in theupdated first status message, wherein: generating a second automaticresponse to the second instant message includes generating a secondautomatic response that includes the updated second status message, andtransmitting the second automatically-generated response to the secondco-user of the instant messaging system includes transmitting the secondautomatically-generated response, including the updated second statusmessage, to the second co-user of the instant messaging system.
 12. Themethod of claim 10 further comprising updating the second status messagemaintained on behalf of the user to include an alternative status of theuser in response to receiving the indication of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system, thealternative status of the user included in the updated second statusmessage being different from the representation of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system included in theupdated first status message, wherein: generating a second automaticresponse to the second instant message includes generating a secondautomatic response that includes the updated second status message, andtransmitting the second automatically-generated response to the secondco-user of the instant messaging system includes transmitting the secondautomatically-generated response, including the updated second statusmessage, to the second co-user of the instant messaging system.
 13. Themethod of claim 12 wherein: updating the first status message maintainedon behalf of the user to include a representation of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system in response toreceiving the indication of the location attributable to the user of theinstant messaging system includes: in response to receiving theindication of the location attributable to the user of the instantmessaging system, prompting the user of the instant messaging system tosupply a representation of the location attributable to the user,receiving, from the user, a user-supplied representation of the locationattributable to the user, and updating the first status messagemaintained on behalf of the user to include the user-suppliedrepresentation of the location attributable to the user; and updatingthe second status message maintained on behalf of the user to include analternative status of the user in response to receiving the indicationof the location attributable to the user of the instant messaging systemincludes: in response to receiving the indication of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system, prompting theuser of the instant messaging system to supply an alternative status,receiving, from the user, a user-supplied alternative status, andupdating the second status message maintained on behalf of the user toinclude the user-supplied alternative status.
 14. The method of claim 10wherein: receiving an indication of a location attributable to the userof the instant messaging system includes receiving geographiccoordinates of a location attributable to the user of the instantmessaging system; and updating the first status message maintained onbehalf of the user to include a representation of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system includes:generating a representation of the location attributable to the user ofthe instant messaging system based on the received geographiccoordinates of the location attributable to the user of the instantmessaging system, and updating the first status message maintained onbehalf of the user to include the generated representation of thelocation attributable to the user of the instant messaging system. 15.The method of claim 14 wherein receiving geographic coordinates of alocation attributable to the user of the instant messaging systemincludes receiving the geographic coordinates of the locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system from a mobiletelephone associated with the user of the instant messaging system. 16.The method of claim 10 wherein receiving an indication of a locationattributable to the user of the instant messaging system includesreceiving the indication of the location attributable to the user of theinstant messaging system from a mobile telephone associated with theuser of the instant messaging system.
 17. The method of claim 10wherein: maintaining, on behalf of the user of the instant messagingsystem, a first status message that the user has designated as beingintended for a first limited subset of co-users of the instant messagingsystem includes maintaining, on behalf of the user of the instantmessaging system, a first status message that the user has designated asbeing intended for a subset of co-users of the instant messaging systemthat the user has designated as being friends of the user; maintaining,on behalf of the user of the instant messaging system, a second statusmessage that the user has designated as being intended for a secondlimited subset of co-users of the instant messaging system includesmaintaining, on behalf of the user of the instant messaging system, asecond status message that the user has designated as being intended fora subset of co-users of the instant messaging system that the user hasdesignated as being family members of the user; determining that thefirst co-user of the instant messaging system is a member of the firstlimited subset of co-users includes determining that the first co-userof the instant messaging system belongs to a limited subset of co-usersthat the user of the instant messaging system has designated as beingfriends of the user of the instant messaging system; and determiningthat the second co-user of the instant messaging system is a member ofthe second limited subset of co-users includes determining that thesecond co-user of the instant messaging system belongs to a limitedsubset of co-users that the user of the instant messaging system hasdesignated as being family members of the user of the instant messagingsystem.
 18. The method of claim 10 wherein: maintaining, on behalf ofthe user of the instant messaging system, a second status message thatthe user has designated as being intended for a second limited subset ofco-users of the instant messaging system includes maintaining, on behalfof the user of the instant messaging system, a second status messagethat the user has designated as being intended for a second limitedsubset of co-users of the instant messaging system the constituentmembers of which do not overlap with the constituent members of thefirst limited subset of co-users of the instant messaging system.